Our Petition For The Release of Guardian M1396

This is the ORIGINAL email:

Dear Dr. Tuggle,

This email is in regards to a petition I initiated a few months ago in an attempt to get Guardian M1396 released back to his mate and pups! There are over 72,000 signatures on it as we speak! It has been featured on several news broadcasts within the Albuquerque, New Mexico area. Please find the url link to the petition itself and the url to the pdf containing the signatures at the bottom!

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has trapped and removed Guardian, the alpha male of a Mexican wolf pack that lives in Gila National Forest. Without his support and leadership, the survival of his pack is in jeopardy.

There are fewer than 100 Mexican wolves living in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico, and the federal reintroduction program to rebuild their population was just starting to show progress. If this pack doesn’t survive, it will be a significant blow to the overall population.

The reason Guardian was trapped was because he killed livestock to feed his hungry pups and pack. Now his pack is severely threatened.

Ranchers and the federal government hunted the Mexican wolf to oblivion decades ago — which is why this reintroduction program is desperately needed.

Ranchers are paid for any livestock that are killed by wolves. Additionally, recent research shows removing alpha animals to reduce livestock depredation might not even lead to fewer dead sheep or cattle.

It’s time for the public to speak up for healthy ecosystems and healthy wolfpopulations. If enough of us take action, USFWS will have to respond.

A Care2 Petition is Pushing Back on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Placing the Alpha Male, Named Guardian, Into Captivity

SILVER CITY, NEW MEXICO — A Care2 petition is urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to return Guardian, or Wolf M1396, back to his home in the wild after the federal agency captured the endangered Mexican gray wolf, an alpha male, and placed him in captivity. The petition has gathered over 74,000 signatures.

The federal government orderedGuardian to be captured after he killed livestock, but Care2 petition author Douglas Lopes says that because the animal is an alpha male, his removal threatens the entire pack — and potentially, the entire species’ recovery.

“Guardian is just the latest example of how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prioritizes the will of ranchers over the needs of wolves,” Lopes told Care2. “Spending taxpayer funds to eradicate wolves is shameful.”

According to the FWS, there were 110 wild wolves counted in Arizona and New Mexico at the end of 2014. At the end of 2015, that number had dropped to 97.

“The [U.S. government’s] reintroduction program is an important step to right this wrong, but only if wolves are allowed to live freely across wild federal lands of the Southeast,” Lopes said. “Guardian needs to be returned to his pack. Without their alpha, the Luna group is at risk.”

Three wolves have already died this year, including two accidentally killed by government traps, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.